Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Fall Semester, 2006
6.081: Introduction to EECS 1
General Information
Lecture: Tuesday 2:00-3:30 in 1-190 and 4:00-5:00 in
34-501
Lab: Thursday 2:00-5:00, in 34-501
Special homework tutoring in lab, Wednesday, 6:00-10:00 p.m.
TAs available in lab: Sunday 4:00-6:00 p.m., Monday 4:00-8:00
p.m.
This is a pilot for a new EECS core curriculum subject that explores
fundamental ideas from electrical engineering and computer science in
the context of working with mobile robots. It covers basic
engineering ideas of abstraction and modularity, elements of
programming, basic circuits, discrete-time control systems, and reasoning in
the presence of uncertainty.
Homework
Assignments will be distributed on Tuesday. They will include a
pre-lab assignment due before Thursday's lab and a post-lab assignment
due the following Monday night. Each lab end with a short quiz
on your labwork and on the homework due for that day.
Office hours
The TAs will hold office hours on Sunday from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. and Monday from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.
in 34-501. This is a good opportunity to ask any questions you have remaining from the lab.
Wednesday evening homework sessions
You are welcome to do the homework for Thursday on your own if you
prefer, or in a self-organized study group. But we suggest that your
time will be much better spent if you do your pre-lab homework in the
staffed Wednesday evening homework sessions. When
programming, especially, it's easy to fall into in rat holes and spend
enormous amounts of time digging yourself out. Doing your work when
there are staff members around can be make things much easier.
Grading policy
There are five types of graded work:
- A take-home final exam
- A midterm
- Weekly nanoquizzes given in lab
- Weekly written problem sets
- Weekly assignments with the on-line tutor
All work is graded on a check-minus, check, check-plus scale. Late
work will be automatically lowered one level.
In order to pass 6.081, you must:
- Pass the final
- Get at least a check on all graded work, but you can resubmit work
that received a check minus (except for the final) as described
below.
In order to receive an A or a B, you must also
- Achieve an average of grade of check on your
first submission of graded work.
Decisions between A's and B's will be based on performance on graded
work, and performance in lab.
Making up for check-minus work:
- for check-minus on the midterm, you must redo the midterm within two
weeks of the test
- for check-minus problem sets, you must resubmit the problem set
to the level of check before the beginning of finals period (but this
raised score will not figure in computing the your average grade for
submitted work)
- anyone with more than one check-minus on a quiz must sign up for a
short (15 minute) oral exam, in the week before finals week
Policy on collaboration
Many people -- some say most people -- learn more effectively when
they study with partners and cooperate in various other ways on
homework. We have no objection to this kind of collaboration. More
than that, we encourage it, provided that all participants are
involved in all aspects of the work -- not just split up the
assignment and each do only a fraction. When you hand in a paper
with your name on it we assume that you are certifying that the
details are entirely your own work and that you played at least a
substantial role in the conception stage.